Mija really enjoys history. I think it's because we teach it chronologically. That is why we have used The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child
. I know that some are concerned because there can be a slight humanistic twinge to it, but I can more than bring God into His-tory on my own. I also am thankful for The Story of the World Activity Book . It helps me not have to re-invent the wheel. It has activities, review items, and even lists of books to go along with each chapter. That's really important to me because I don't want mija to learn merely from a text book but from real books. Having the list makes my time on the library website much faster. (I reserve all the books I want online, so all I have to do it pick them up!)
Science
I mentioned on Monday, I didn't have a science curriculum available for this year. Well, I was looking through all my downloads, and I came across something I'm going to use. There is a science program entitled, Supercharged Science. It's actually taught by Aurora Lipper, a real rocket scientist! We had signed up for a trial period of her program and while a member I downloaded a lot of her things! I have enough to definitely cover this year although I won't have access to her cool videos. So, between my downloads and the library, I think we have science covered.
Every so often, Aurora Lipper does FREE teleclass. She has one coming up on Wednesday, August 15 at noon Pacific time. We usually try to attend even if it's not a subject we are currently covering because she's great, it counts as hours, and did I mention it was Free? Here's the link to sign up for this upcoming teleclass on chemistry.
Bible
Bible really isn't just an elective. It permeates everything we do. While I have my eye on some "official" curriculum, we can't afford it write now, so these are some things we are using.
First, Awana. In case you don't know what Awana is, it is a Scripture memory program that gives prizes and awards for what the child accomplishes. Our church offers Awana. She attends the meetings and then we work on the verses at home.
Second. We've been using Lorrie Flem's Artists and Authors. I won't tell you much about it right now because I'm going to be doing a review in a few weeks!
Art and Music and More
I don't have a regular curriculum with the subjects. I often integrate them with history or holidays. For instance, we're going to be learning about what was happening in Holland during the Protestant revolutions. We're going to learn about Rembrandt then! Free concert at the library. Music credit. If I can score a free piano, we'll start that again. Mija also does ballet. I count that as Performance Art although I probably could count as PE if I wanted to do.
Latin
Yes, we are going to start Latin this year, but I'm planning on taking it slow and easy. Something I had purchased previously to use for this eventual even is Prima Latina. Haven't used it before. Seems simple enough. We'll see how it goes. Why Latin? Because we follow the Classical Method, of course! There's more to it than that. Latin is the basis of a great deal of our English language thereby helping with spelling and learning the meanings of new words. It's also the basis of all the Latin languages which gives you a head up in learning them. (Although I don't think I'll ever understand French. There are just too many unspoken letters. Why put them there if you're not going to say them? Huh?)
So there you are. That's the basics of what I'm using this year. Have you used any of them? Would you recommend them or something else?
I couldn't finish everything I wanted to share on Tuesday, so today is part 2 of my "Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop Curriculum Week! On Tuesday, I covered readin', writin', and 'rithmetic. Today, I'm covering my electives.
I mentioned on Monday, I didn't have a science curriculum available for this year. Well, I was looking through all my downloads, and I came across something I'm going to use. There is a science program entitled, Supercharged Science. It's actually taught by Aurora Lipper, a real rocket scientist! We had signed up for a trial period of her program and while a member I downloaded a lot of her things! I have enough to definitely cover this year although I won't have access to her cool videos. So, between my downloads and the library, I think we have science covered.
